For people who don't know, the Cyclone is EXTREMELY jarring to your bones and brittle/creaky feeling. I;m not saying it's unsafe; I'm just saying it's nothing like smooth modern metal coasters. Prepare yourself for clattering bones...

From 85 feet up, the view of Coney Island is so good you can almost see the future. You can get the Boardwalk, but also a sense of the crowds that will soon fill it. The sun peeking through the clouds, but also an image of the beachgoers who will soak it in. The familiar attractions like the Parachute Jump, and the new development that after years of controversy will make its debut in May.

Yana Paskova for The New York Times

I might have seen all that myself, and felt the joyous release from winter’s icy grip. But I was in the front seat of the front car of the Cyclone, steadily ticking my way up to that first awful drop. I could see only doom